If you bought into the media hype, you knew winter storm Elliot was going to kill us all. Comparisons to the blizzard of ’78 were flying everywhere, and I understand there was nowhere nearby to get eggs, milk, or bread. In reality, we only got about an inch and a half of snow. But the cold. The cold meant doing everything possible to stay inside! With wind chills approaching -40, traveling any further than the sheep barn was not in the cards for us.
But, Xenia had foraged some winter oyster mushrooms ahead of the storm, and I had some old, leftover Neapolitan style pizza dough. It was really too old to make good pizzas, and since the pizza oven is an outdoor only appliance, I wasn’t going to be making pizzas anyway. But, a savory onion, mushroom, and cheese roll for breakfast? That sounds perfect for a cold day next to the wood stove!
It’s fall, and that means 2 Acre Farm is bringing their wide selection of pumpkins to the Culver Farmers’ Market. They’ve already nearly sold out this year, but I did manage to snag a couple of Long Island Cheese pumpkins. While most folks decorate for a few weeks and then toss their pumpkins, these guys are delicious. So, when life gives you pumpkins, make soup! Pumpkin and sausage soup
Today is National Soup it Forward Day. We are encouraged to celebrate community, friendship, health, and, soup, by making an extra-large batch of our favorite homemade soup, then delivering it to unsuspecting friends and neighbors who need a little pick-me-up and appreciation. In celebration, I’m posting my Four Cheese Cheeseburger Soup recipe that I created for our farm‘s Weeklyish Newsletter.
Garlic Scapes are one of my absolute favorite foods, yet available so fleetingly. They are the flower stalk from hardneck garlic, and must be harvested to allow the garlic heads to size up. But their delicious garlic x leek flavor is an absolute delight. The biggest scape regret is that their season lasts but about two weeks a year.
So, I wanted something a little different for the daily zucchini adventure today. Something a bit more filling. Something savory and rich. And I enjoyed the squash and Italian Sausage flavor combination from my Rotini Tromboncini the other day.
Well, our main zucchini variety is Costata Romanesca, an Italian heirloom variety that we really love. Italian zucchini, Italian sausage…. What could be more faux-Italian (yet really American) than pizza? Continue reading →
Tromboncini Rotini – A tasty, colorful, and unique summer dinner
Taking another break from the mass influx of zucchini, it’s time to play with tromboncini squash again. I love Troboncini – they are extremely versatile, functioning as both a winter and a summer squash. Their flavor is somewhere between a zucchini and a butternut. And they have a long, seedless neck.
The parmesan tromboncini discs I made the other day were really yummy. But let’s face it, that’s an appetizer. We needed something more substantial for dinner. And colorful. Time for squash and pasta! Continue reading →
Even though we’re getting slammed with zucchini, the Tromboncini squash are also starting to come in. Tromboncini are uncommon, but I’m not sure why. They’re very productive, at least in terms of pounds of food produced (though most of the squash tend to be large, so you don’t necessarily have large numbers of them). They are easy to use – they have a long neck that is entirely seedless, then a bulb on the end that contains all of the seeds, and a skin that’s only slightly thicker than zucchini, so most recipes don’t need peeling. They are versatile – they can function both as a summer squash and as a winter squash (though they don’t store quite as long as, say, a butternut). And they are very tasty, with a flavor somewhere between a zucchini and an acorn squash.
Anyway, we have converted a few true believers at market. Most people are afraid to try them, but those who do usually come back for more. But, due either to the massive pile of zucchini on our table, or too few brave culinarians, we had a few left after this week’s markets. So, yesterday was a day to be creative with Tromboncini. Continue reading →
I was flipping through The Flavor Bible, looking for ways to use my excessive zucchini harvest, and I noticed several flavors I love being highly recommended, including thyme, parmesan, cream, and black pepper. Wait a minute! Those plus bacon (which makes everything better) are all the flavors that make the classic pasta carbonara sauce!
